wingnut
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2009
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About a month ago, I bought some grass hay from a new supplier. I really liked the looks of the hay...soft, fresh, green. The horses love it. I noticed some thorny stems with green berries in the hay. Not a lot but I pulled one or two stems out of every other flake or so. These are your average 30-40lb square bales. I knew I should investigate further but I kept forgetting. I just took care to remove the stems/berries before putting the hay out. It did not appear to me that the hay was other wise "contaminated" by the stems/berries.
Yesterday, I called the supplier again to see about getting more of this hay. The horses are doing well on it. I only bought a few bales to test it. I mentioned the stems/berries as an afterthought at the end of our conversation. He said "Oh, darn. Those are hay nettles. I need to spray that field." My spidey-senses piqued at that.
So, today I looked it up. And of course, as many of you likely know, this is a *poisonous* plant!!!! Arrrghhh!!! I haven't seen any signs or symptoms in my horses that would alert me to their actually eating these things, but I am so mad at myself for not looking into this further. I'm going to let the supplier know that I can't buy any more of his hay until he can confirm he has eliminated the problem.
:::: sigh :::: I post this in an effort to educate other newbies like myself who might run across this. If you google for it, you can find a lot of images. I now recognized the mature yellow berries as something I've seen before in the fields around our house (we own farm property that is rented to a local grain farmer). This is not, however, in our pasture at all.
Also, do you think there is any connection to the fact that this hay, like none other I've used before, makes my skin crazy? I have to change my shirt when I come in after putting it out because of it.
Yesterday, I called the supplier again to see about getting more of this hay. The horses are doing well on it. I only bought a few bales to test it. I mentioned the stems/berries as an afterthought at the end of our conversation. He said "Oh, darn. Those are hay nettles. I need to spray that field." My spidey-senses piqued at that.
So, today I looked it up. And of course, as many of you likely know, this is a *poisonous* plant!!!! Arrrghhh!!! I haven't seen any signs or symptoms in my horses that would alert me to their actually eating these things, but I am so mad at myself for not looking into this further. I'm going to let the supplier know that I can't buy any more of his hay until he can confirm he has eliminated the problem.
:::: sigh :::: I post this in an effort to educate other newbies like myself who might run across this. If you google for it, you can find a lot of images. I now recognized the mature yellow berries as something I've seen before in the fields around our house (we own farm property that is rented to a local grain farmer). This is not, however, in our pasture at all.
Also, do you think there is any connection to the fact that this hay, like none other I've used before, makes my skin crazy? I have to change my shirt when I come in after putting it out because of it.